Muhammad is the founder of Islam, the world’s fastest growing religion. 1 Billions of Muslims uphold him as a prophet and moral exemplar.2 The Quran calls him “an excellent example”3 and Muslim tradition proclaims he was the most generous person in the world.4
The Muslim tradition also records that the Prophet Muhammad said some very nice things about people who helped animals like: “There is a reward for helping any living creature.”5 and “Whoever is kind to the creatures of God is kind to himself.”5 and “May God curse anyone who maims animals.”5
In practice, he instructed that if animals were slaughtered it should be done humanely, without any unnecessary suffering.6 He also forbade striking and branding animals5 and condemned hunting them for sport and using their fights for entertainment.7 He even criticized men who sat upon camels for no good reason: “Do not treat the backs of your animals as pulpits”.8
sources and footnotes:
[1] Lipka, Michael, and Conrad Hackett. “Why Muslims Are the World’s Fastest-Growing Religious Group.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 30 May 2020, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/06/why-muslims-are-the-worlds-fastest-growing-religious-group/.
[2] “Although his function as God’s messenger is unique and inimitable, the Prophet’s words and actions are considered to provide the archetype of a life lived in full submission to God”
Source: Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. The Study Quran: A New Translation with Notes and Commentary. HarperCollins Publishers, 2015. Commentary on 33:21
[3] Quran 33:21.
[4] “Sahih Al-Bukhari 3554.” Sunnah.com, https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3554.
[5] Rahman, Sira. “Religion and Animal Welfare—An Islamic Perspective.” Animals, vol. 7, no. 12, 2017, p. 1., doi:10.3390/ani7020011.
[6] “Verily Allah has prescribed ih`san (proficiency, perfection) in all things. So if you kill then kill well; and if you slaughter, then slaughter well. Let each one of you sharpen his blade and let him spare suffering to the animal he slaughters.”
Source: “Hadith 17, 40 Hadith an-Nawawi.” Sunnah.com, https://sunnah.com/nawawi40:17.
[7] Frayne, Carl Tobias. “Animals in Christian and Muslim Thought.” Routledge Handbook of Religion and Animal Ethics, Routledge, 2019, p. 205.
[8] Sahih Bukhari, 3:39:513 cited in Foltz, Richard C. Animals in Islamic Tradition and Muslim Cultures. Oneworld, 2006.